Spock's Brain Pt 2
by Erik Sax
Summary: A widely panned episode of TOS from season 3 didn't have a resolution other than a few campy quips. The Enterprise is seen slowly leaving Sigma Draconis 6, but a dangerous enemy is not finished. The "Eymorg" conduct a vicious attack but Enterprise is victorious; badly damaged. They are forced to abandon ship and seek shelter on Sigma Draconis 4, said to be equal to earth in 2030.


**Act 1 Scene 1**

"Captain, you're welcome to find shelter here on my planet." The signal was almost too poor to understand – Kirk looked over to Uhura who went to work trying to improve it, but she gave him a returning glance and head shake, enough to communicate her failure. "You'll find hospitality at the coordinates we're sending now."

"Thank you." The assured reply of Captain Kirk echoed on the bridge. The bridge crew was totally silent as the comm went dead, switching the image to the viewscreen showing the hazy blue-green of Sigma Draconis IV. For a moment Kirk considered, looking at the image, uncertain. The usual bustle and din of bridge operations was replaced by a surreal silence.

Kirk made a fist out of frustration, then flipped the switch and heard the bosun whistle characteristic of his broadcast to the crew. "Crew of the USS Enterprise, this is the Captain. Even as we've escaped the battle with the Eymorg and recovered our crewmate, this star system has been slowly producing more and more radiation from a solar storm. While we could repair the battle damage, we will not have time before the radiation is lethal. We are adrift. Our only option then is the planet below, with a geomagnetic field many times larger than our own Earth field. Stronger than our current systems could provide."

Kirk looked now at his senior officers, some of whom simply nodded in defeat. There were no options. He continued. "If we remain on board, we will surely perish. The Enterprise will remain in orbit while we wait for the solar storm of Sigma Draconis to pass. We cannot use the transporters or escape pods while this radiation storm rages, our only option will be to get everyone out with shuttlecraft trips. We have 2 class F shuttlecraft. The crew will use these lifeboats to evacuate. Over a thousand of us will divide into 30 groups for an orderly evacuation."

He paused and looked again at his bridge crew, all of which now regarded him awaiting orders. "Abandon ship."

 **Act 1 Scene 2**

Each senior officer had been given a group of 33 crew members and Kirk quickly put them to work organizing groups and supplies. It quickly began to look like a grim task.

Chekov reported from his tactical station "Captain the first group of 33 is away, and Galileo and Columbus have returned to Enterprise."

Kirk looked at the instruments on his right and said. "It took them 20 minutes?"

"Yes sir the pilots were not the usual staff, they're in another group, not very familiar with the controls."

Uhuru jumped in "well can't we simply use the most qualified pilots for all the groups?"

Chekov replied "I vish ve could!"

Kirk: "Permission granted, use our best pilots!"

Chekov looked at his junior officer, who shook his head. "Kep-tin. The problem is the radiation. The shuttles are landing in the shuttlebay with their blast shields covering the windows. Any member of the crew couldn't handle the radiation for more than 2 trips, so the pilots for this trip will be left on the planet for the next one."

Kirk considered this. He was backed into a corner once again. "Thank you, please proceed as quickly as possible. Let me know when each shuttle cycle is completed, we need to cut this time… at least in half. I need to check on engineering. You have the bridge."

Entering the turbolift doors and watching them woosh shut, Kirk grabbed the handle and asked the computer to take him to the engineering deck. Smashing his fist against the wall he said to no one. "20 damn minutes!"

 **Act 1 Scene 3**

The doors opened, and the wreck of engineering was laid bare to Kirk's eyes for the first time. It was dark, no lights functioned, and he heard the brogue of his chief engineer swearing in a way he'd not heard before. "I could use a hand over here Captain!" Kirk made his way over, tripping on equipment in the dark, and finally found the flashlight sitting on a console in the bowels of engineering. Down below them, Kirk now saw one of the engineering crew, carefully monitoring what must could only be their antimatter containment.

"We've got big problems here captain. Forget about the core, we're on emergency backups of antimatter containment. We've already seen dozens of annihilations. If I can't get the primary containment system back online, we could all go up. We've only got minutes before the lads can't keep the antimatter centered in containment with the manual system."

"The _manual_ system!?" Kirk practically yelled at Scotty in disbelief. "You've got the entire engineering crew manually containing our entire antimatter storage?"

"Aye, each one of them, they're doing a brilliant job too." It doesn't matter, we'd have lost the ship if we hadn't switched over when we did " Montgomery Scott, AKA Scotty gestured to the smoking hulk behind a panel he opened,"the primary exploded right after I switched. But! that also means there's not a spare hand. Here, I need to move this entire conduit, and we'll need to initialize a new controller system for antimatter containment. It's too much for me alone."

Scotty snapped his fingers, "I know how to make this go faster" and jogged over to the nearby engineering station, pulling out a phaser from below the console. Kirk looked at him in disbelief. Scotty calmly adjusted the phaser, and began to use it to cut the primary controller from the magnetic interlocks. Kirk was breathless. Everything in his years of training and operating a starship told him that this operation was a death sentence, but at once he saw the brilliance of it. "Run and get the new controller!" Shouted Scotty at him.

Soon they had a new controller system installed and Scotty used a special tool to calibrate the connections that had moments ago been severed by a phaser. Red lights began changing to green as the interlocks reinitialized, and as scotty stood up to his full height the final connection remained red. He frowned and Kirk looked at him wild eyed. A count of annihilations continued on the nearby screen, casting the darkness with a sheen of light that Kirk could no longer bear to look at, but he knew it was now over 10 thousand.

Scotty let out a brief laugh and drawing drawing his knee up, gave the conduit a hard kick with the heel of his boot. The primary's last self testing connection initialized and the system changed from "startup" to "nominal". Scotty ran back to his console and quickly changed the system from manual to primary, and looked at Kirk with a smile, flinging his arms open as if to say "Tada". Kirk couldn't decide whether to hug him or kill him, and listened as a loud cheer went up from the engineering crew below.

"We can evacuate, Captain. Don't worry about this old gal, she'll be fine until we return to fix the plasma conduit damage."

 **Act 1 Scene 4**

"Mr Chekov, Report!" Kirk said into a communicator in the hall outside of sick bay.

"The group with our two best pilots, including Mr Sulu, just completed their leg in 15 minutes."

"How many are away?"

"5 groups are on the surface now captain."

"Proceed. Kirk out".

Entering the sickbay, Kirk regarded Spock laying on a gurney with his eyes closed. "Bones, report."

"Well I'm a little busy trying to close down a medical bay. My group is next, and at the time I'd prefer to deal with Spock here. He's gone into some kind of damned coma."

"A _coma_?" Kirk repeated with a concerned look.

"Well is that so surprising? They removed his _damned brain_ after all. I don't know if he'll die if he's not in our sickbay. I'm still not sure about some of the aspects of Vulcan physiology."

Kirk considered, looking at Spock. "I sure could use his help right now." He said sadly. "But we don't have a choice, we've only got about 3 hours until the radiation starts to become lethal."

"Am I to understand we're somehow going to evacuate the rest of the crew in 3 hours…. with only 2 _class F_ shuttlecraft?" replied bones with an urgent whisper.

"Somehow, we're going to. Good luck bones, get him out of here safely. I'll see you on the surface."

Kirk held out his hand, but the doctor refused to shake it and looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Captain goes down with his ship?"

"The ship isn't going down."

 **Act 1 Scene 5**

The turbolift opened to the bridge and Kirk stepped out to see there was a look of panic on Chekov's face. As of now Chekov was his first officer, and he practically ran up and said in a quiet whisper. "Captain, we're not evacuating fast enough. At this rate we're going to lose half the crew."

"I know, DAMMIT." Kirk took a moment and stopped himself, practicing a Vulcan ritual mentally. It wouldn't help to panic. "What else can we do?"

"Well we have enough emergency power to use the transporter systems." Chekov replied.

Kirk considered with his head tilted, and answered this one carefully. "But… we can't use them because the radiation and the powerful magnetic shield protecting the planet."

Chekov nodded gravely. "We are out of options Kep'tin… _half_ of this crew is going to die. I've had the computer do a random lottery." Kirk was shaking his head. "You have been assigned a spot on the last shuttle before the radiation becomes too much."

Kirk stepped away and said loudly enough for everyone on the bridge to hear "We are _not_ going to let half of this crew just die up here!" The staff that was working on evacuation logistics suddenly ground to a halt in fear and shock. "I want options people, how can we get from up here to down _there,"_ he said, pointing to the planet on the viewscreen, everyone following his finger for a moment. Kirk knew that his people would calmly look death in the eye, and he knew that news of the plight would get out. He knew the best chance was as much clear eyed time to think about the problem.

A pair of junior officers started to debate. "We can't use the transporters, it's got to be the shuttlecraft – and even if they _could_ open their blast shields it would still take at least 10 minutes for the whole docking and landing cycle."

"Well the cycle needs to be faster. What can we skip?"

"We're already skipping everything we can. We cannot do this on instruments any faster than 15 or 20 minutes."

"We need to be doing it in 5 minutes!" Kirk interjected.

One of the junior officers thought about this, leaning back against the conning console, she shook her head. "I don't see how, unless you want to skip the entire docking sequence. We could land the shuttle in 5 minutes, but not dock."

Chekov suddenly realized the answer as another junior officer offered "well you've got to do at least those two things, dock, and land. You can't skip docking."

Chekov shouted. "But we _can_ skip it!"

Kirk looked at him with surprise "explain, Mr Chekov."

"Ahh, I can't believe I didn't sink of ziss before… the transporters!"

"But we can't use them, we already know that." Came the reply from a junior officer, shaking their head in confusion.

"No, we can't transport to the surface, the magnetic field is too strong. But if we move to a higher orbit, the shuttle could get to apogee at top speed _above_ the magnetic field. We could transport a group onto the shuttle and it could go right back down…"

Everyone on the bridge suddenly began talking and working, realizing what was needed. So much emergency power to maneuver to a higher orbit, so much emergency power for the transporters.

By the time Kirk regarded his empty bridge one last time and finished his final log entry, almost 4 hours had passed since the solar storm began bathing the system in deadly radiation. He set a timer on a primary command console; in 10 minutes the Enterprise systems would go into "grey mode". He found himself climbing onto the transporter pad and waiting for the sequence to automatically activate. Somehow, he knew that it wouldn't be the last time he saw Enterprise, and he began to smile as the sequence began and he dematerialized.

 **Act 2 Scene 1**

He found himself in a small section of the shuttlecraft near the aft hatch, and as the sequence completed a crush of his crewmates let out a sigh or laugh of relief and let themselves take up the space around the transport area. It was the most people he'd ever seen in a class F. The blast doors covered the windows as he made his way to the front, with people squeezing next to each other, finally he reached the conning station. "Captain on deck!" Said one of the crew triumphantly.

"Sir the radiation is starting to have an effect on the Galileo's systems." Several of the crew could see the readouts and started talking over each other.

"Quiet down people, we're working the problem up here, Lt Hadley has this in hand." The crew responded to his orders, remaining quiet but focused on the life and death situation unfolding before them. Kirk looked at Hadley and realized that Chekov had arranged for one of his most trusted pilots to be manning the last shuttle, and with Kirk on board.

"That's it sir. Sensors are gone." Now everyone was silent. "Without the sensors, we won't know where we are in order to manage the re-entry procedures, and we can't afford to open the blast doors right now for a visual. We're adrift sir, and we don't have any way of getting back on course."

Kirk calmly leaned over his shoulder for a better look at the panel and asked "have you ever put one of these into 'dead-reckoning' mode?'" Lt Hadley looked at him blankly. "No?" Hadley shook his head tentatively. Kirk stood up and loudly asked the large assembly behind him, "Anyone ever run a dead reckoning landing cycle?" Silence. Kirk smiled at them. With his eyebrows raised he asked playfully "does anyone even _know_ what that is?" Again, silence. "Well you're in luck Mr Hadley, you're about to learn how spaceflight inertial guidance worked back when humanity first went to the moon – luckily we have 4 gimbals for this instead of just the 3 they had."

Hadley looked nervously back at his captain and the crew, "Gyroscopic location finding, that's not going to be very accurate sir, maybe you should take the helm si- "

Kirk interrupted him, "It doesn't even have to be accurate to even 10 meters Mr Hadley. We can look out the windows again after we're into the stratosphere. I'll walk you through it. Start by switching the guidance computer to accept input from aux," Hadley followed the instructions, working away at the controls. "Good, now, initialize gyros and tell the computer to sync them with last sensor trajectory."

Hadley looked uncertain, "Sir, I've got the gyros started but what about the last trajectory? I don't know where to find that information."

Kirk looked over his shoulder, "anyone remember how to get the computer to reload the vector tables? So the computer can figure out where Sir Isaac Newton had sent us?"

A junior officer directly to his right spoke up, "it's not in the aux guidance system, he'll have to get it out of the navigation log, right?"

"Excellent! Memory! Lieutenant Masters!" Kirk barked out, being sure everyone heard. "Charlene, is that right?" He knew it was.

"Yes, Sir." she responded, nervous and careful not to be prideful.

Hadley had brought up the information recorded in the navigation logs. "Ok, it says gyros initialized…. Select destination for autopilot!" He read triumphantly. The crew aboard let out a relieved cheer and Kirk clapped Lt Masters on the shoulder.

Kirk held up his hand and said, "Mr Hadley, set course for the landing coordinates. Miss Masters, please take the co-pilot seat and open a channel to the Columbus – let them know how to solve this problem if they also experience sensor failure. And Lieutenant,"

Masters looked up at him as she sat down "Yes sir?"

"I expect you to take time to personally qualify every officer on Enterprise on this procedure. Is that clear?" Kirk knew that a switch in tone was important here. Leadership wasn't about getting the shuttle down to the planet, it was about creating confidence in people like Masters – giving them opportunities to guide others, showing them that they had valuable leadership abilities of their own. It was important that he reminded her that this was serious, and her worth was greater than simply solving one problem. It was something she could succeed at in the future.

"Yes Sir." Charlene Masters responded just as he knew she would, and in a moment he heard her relaying the instructions to the other shuttle.

Kirk knew he'd have to keep his eye on her. Knowing systems was different than having a sense of how systems worked and could work together. He looked around, and in unconcerned sort of way, asked, "is there any coffee?"

 **Intermission**

 **Captain's Log, Stardate 5438.5**

It has now been a full week since we sought the safety of Sigma Draconis 4. This is a strange planet; I am told the amino acids all have "Right-hand Chirality", which means we cannot survive eating the native foods here, though many of them taste and smell unusually sweet. With strict rationing, we could not hope to survive much longer, but some of the crew are working on a way to convert these alien proteins to our 9 essential amino acids.

While this radiation from Sigma Draconis continues, the aurora is so intense that the night sky is bright, bright enough we haven't had a visual of enterprise in orbit.

I've placed the crew on a 3 shift 8 hour rotation, which is working well so far with the 16 hour daily solar cycle. Spock continues to linger in some kind of coma, and Mccoy has finished treating radiation exposure among the crew. I'm worried Mr Scott will soon dismantle one of the shuttlecraft now that the sensors are repaired. It's been strange to be able to see the entire crew in a single glance. I have been particularly impressed with their professionalism. On one point, at least, we've caught a break, the inhabitants of this planet are peaceful and welcoming.

 **Act 3 scene 1**

Mccoy approached Kirk with an air of urgency, in some ways the captain was enjoying this bit of shore leave, but he was anxious to hear if Spock's condition had improved. "Can I help you, bones?"

Walking along together in the encampment, Mccoy kept his voice low. "Spock has some kind of damned _rash."_

Kirk looked at him with some confusion on his face. "You mean on his skin?"

"His skin cells have some kind of damage, but I haven't isolated it yet. It's not from radiation, and it's not from any kind of microorganism."

"Is it related to his coma?"

Mccoy didn't say anything for a moment. "No. No, I don't think so. I'm starting to think that's part of some kind of healing process."

"Well whatever it is, can you treat it?"

Vulcan skin isn't that much different from human skin. I've applied some topical treatments, but I need to isolate any additional pathogens before I can say."

"Carry on, Bones." Mccoy walked off muttering something about starving to death.

Kirk's communicator went off, "Kirk, here"

"Chekov, here kep'tin, we, ah, we need you over at the HQ. Are you far?"

Kirk half smiled, wondering what could possibly be wrong now. "In a moment."

 **Act 3 scene 2**

"Chekov, what's going on?"

Chekov was now his first officer, which didn't mean much other than staff assignments and report gathering. The exciting work was happening in Sulu's task force to develop a food source. Chekov had a grim look on his face that Kirk hadn't seen now in a number of days. "Uhura, why don't you fill him in, since you know more about the situation.

"Captain, we have continued to speak with some of the local governments here about the incompatibility between our biology." Kirk nodded and Uhura continued. "One of their governments has been helpful in producing a process to supply us with some of our essential amino acids. They are enthusiastic and sincere. Several smaller governments have become …upset in the past hour and began to cut off contact."

Kirk looked at the staff in confusion "Did they say why?"

"It seems that culturally they were embarrassed by this, but apparently they are worried they will get… well.. _sick_ from us. Some of the more xenophobic groups on this planet have begun to suggest that our alien bacteria is going to cause an ecological disaster here. Apparently in one of their cities 10s of thousands protested our presence, demanding action."

"I see." Kirk considered this and took in the faces of his people. "Is there anything to this claim?"

Uhura looked uncomfortably at Chekov and said "it's certainly possible. This planet is composed of an ecosystem build entirely upon right-handed protein. They can't eat our food any more than we can eat theirs. Our bacteria even work the other way. We may want to use the ship's phasers to sterilize this quarantine zone after we've left."

"Chekov, what do you think?"

"Sir. This looks like a very serious situation. There is a popular consensus that they should use nuclear vepons in order to completely protect themselves."

Kirk realized why his senior officers were so shaken now, "so they'd wipe us out before we did them the same favor?" Chekov nodded. "I've never even heard of any alien ecosystems built on the opposite chirality, has anyone else?" Head shakes all around.

"OK open a channel to our _friend,_ " Uhura operated some controls and after some back and forth the leader Kirk had first spoken to was on the screen, his humanoid form appearing almost human on the small viewscreen set up.

"Ah, Captain Kirk. This is a fortunate a coincidence, I was just about to call you"

"Administrator _Laren._ Greetings. I wanted to thank you for your help, my team tells me you've been very helpful in securing the necessary food for us."

"Of course."

"Administrator…"

"Captain, I know by now you've heard some rather distressing news. You must understand that on our world we have dealt with so many diseases. We only conquered them in recent times. Still, for the people of this world, being _sick_ , this word is a slur."

"I completely understand, and my crew and I have planned a method to sterilize this quarantine zone after we depart. Tell me, do you have any idea when this radiation storm will end?"

There was a moment of silence punctuating the reply. "We can't be sure."

"Tell me, if you would, how long to they typically last? We expected this one to be over by now…"

Again the reply was slow. "On average, they last a week."

Kirk was a bit annoyed by this response, restless as he was to put sigma draconis into the rear view mirror. "What's the longest it could last, if you wouldn't mind me asking?"

"The longest on record was about 2 of our solar years."

Kirk looked to Chekov and his eyes narrowed. "About 1 and a half of our years, Kep'tin."

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Captain let me assure you that we will not allow any other group to attack your quarantine. Please let us know if there's anything you need."

 **Act 3 scene 3**

"We've got a serious problem here Jim." Mccoy said with a level of seriousness rarely displayed.

"Is it Spock?" Kirk asked.

"Actually Mr Spock seems to be looking better, his rash is clearing up and he's recovered his consciousness briefly. I think he'll be back to normal before long."

Kirk smiled and nodded, "that's a relief, what did you do?"

Mccoy looked incredulous, "I didn't do a damn thing, he got better before I isolated any viral proteins or any other pathologies."

"Well what's the problem then?"

"The problem is that crew-members have started to show up with symptoms of some kind of disease. 15 so far and it hasn't even been an hour yet. The worst case is over here, you've got to see it for yourself." Mccoy guided him towards a subdivided section of his medical tent.

They entered to find Lieutenant Masters. Kirk instantly recognized Charlene and he had a moment of shock at seeing her. Mccoy went over to a nearby sink that was set up and retrieved a cup of water.

"Lieutenant, sit up for me if you would?" A nurse in the room helped her sit upright. "Ok, now show the Captain if you would what happens if you try to drink this." Handing her the cup of water, she slowly brought the cup closer to her lips, but her face contorted and her hand began to shake, until water spilled over the side. "Come on, give it a real effort," encouraged the doctor…

Charlene masters was in tears when she began to spill more water than she could bring to her lips, and she shook her head. "Alright, you're fine Lieutenant," the captain quickly soothed, "you just rest and we'll get this sorted out."

"Sorry Captain. Thank you captain." she said, the nurse quickly distracting her by telling her about their ability to keep her hydrated as the doctor and captain left the room.

Outside they spoke in hushed tones. "What the hell is wrong with her, Bones?"

"I've never seen it before, but I've read about it. It's a damned ancient illness. It's called _hydrophobia_."

Kirk looked at him in disbelief. "What kind of disease causes a … fear of water?"

Mccoy looked at him and spoke in a whisper. "The disease that causes hydrophobia in humans is called Rabies."

"Are you telling me that crewmembers are quickly becoming… _rabid?"_

"I don't know but we need to do something quickly, I'll need more science equipment to start isolating proteins. If this takes the same course as Earth rabies, it'll be 100 percent fatal."

 **Act 4 Scene 1**

"Mr Scott, have you been keeping busy?" said Kirk, trying to project an air of confidence as he left the mobile hospital.

"Aye. But most importantly, I've been keeping tabs on the star overhead."

"The solar storm?" Kirk said, stopping cold, hoping to hear it had stopped.

"It's still going, but the radiation falling. 10 percent lower now."

"10 percent? Well it's something." Kirk said as he continued walking.

"Aye, it's enough that I could return with an engineering repair team."

Kirk stopped again, taken aback.

"I've been thinking, with the radiation falling, as long as we all wore full radiation suits we could begin work. We should have enough suits on board. We can begin repairs. Enterprise will have been adrift in orbit getting blasted by radiation for a week. She's going to need a lot of work now in addition to the-"

"I agree! You've sold me Mr Scott. I need as many ship systems online as you can muster."

The chief engineer nodded and looked seriously at his captain. "The radiation is still too high to use transporters, and it might even prevent our communicators from working." Kirk nodded at this. "Captain there's no reason to return to the surface once we've taken the shuttles. Is it a good idea to leave the crew… marooned?"

"It doesn't seem like we have any choice in the matter. This is a tense situation. People on this world are divided, fearful. They're worried our bacteria are going to cause an ecological disaster."

"I think they've got good reason to be scared, Cap'n." The two men stood together in silent contemplation. There was nothing left to say.

"Mr Scott, I need every system on the Enterprise to be ready as soon as possible."

"Every system?"

"Comms. Sensors. Transporters. Weapons. Shields. Navigation and propulsion. I need these systems now. Do whatever it takes."

"Aye."

"We can't stay here Scotty. Get your team together and go."

 **Act 4 Scene 2**

 **Captain's Log, Stardate 5439.5**

"Yesterday the chief engineer returned to enterprise with two dozen of our engineering crew, a group that included only half of the senior and highly qualified engineering staff. Under normal circumstances they would have weeks of work ahead of them – but we don't have time to spare. Half of my crew is showing symptoms that are worsening into _hydrophobia._ The planet we've landed on has tolerated our presence in a quarantine zone, but the threat of an attack is growing more serious by the hour. There is a bright spot, in that Spock is coming out of his coma, I've been asked to check on his condition within the hour."

As the captain neared the makeshift hospital, he was reminded of how dire their situation was becoming. There were more crew here than at any other part of their encampment, and it was getting crowded.

Spock waved to him, beckoning. "Captain, if you would." Kirk couldn't help notice as he drew closer, that his chief medical officer was sweating through his uniform.

"The doctor and I have isolated a virus, and we can now test for it."

"Good to see you too." Kirk said with a gentle smile.

"An hour ago, I asked the doctor to inject me with a concentration of viral particles."

"Good god, you asked to be infected, Spock. Why?"

The doctor stepped forward, and used an autosyringe on Kirk's arm to draw blood. Kirk instinctively brought up his hand, but the wound did not cause pain. The sample of blood was placed into a medical tricorder, and the computer voice read out "positive".

"You're infected too Captain. We all are." Said Mccoy, grimly. "Except him." Repeating the procedure, he obtained a green sample of Vulcan blood and ran the same test.

"Negative." Came the results of the test.

"You mean to tell me, Spock has somehow already developed an _immunity_ to this alien virus? What about the rest of us?"

"Totally fatal if left untreated. No doubt it's already in your spinal fluid – a neurological virus with a course very similar to Earth rabies. Without synthesizing an immunoglobulin compound, every member of this crew, except for our Vulcan friend here, will be dead within another two to three weeks, according to our analysis of this virus."

"It was my brain, Captain." Spock interjected.

Kirk was taken aback. "Your brain? Spock, don't tell me you cured yourself with your thoughts?"

"Of course not. My brain was in a heightened state of immune response following the surgery, and some of the cerebrospinal connections made by the doctor were improperly connected to the lymphatic system, causing me to enter a protective coma while my body attempted to heal. There will be some small amount of scar tissue." he said looking at the doctor in a way that for humans would seem accusatory.

"You're welcome" said the doctor with his classic panache.

"It was this connection that allowed me to fight this infection, and eventually to develop an automatic immune response. My body produces antibodies for this virus, just like any other virus I've been exposed to."

Kirk was elated. "Spock, that is extraordinary!"

The doctor continued: "This last test was what we needed to confirm it. Spock has cleared the virus from his system in under an hour. Now all we need to do is isolate the proteins he's producing in response and we can synthesize an antiserum." The doctor projected an air of confidence, relieved now to have such a simple task before him to lift the curse.

Kirk nodded and asked "How long until you have an antiserum ready?"

"Captain, Lieutenant Masters is near death. I thought you should know. We may not be able to finish this work in time to save her. We'll know in the next few hours.

 **Act 4 Scene 3**

Kirk enters the makeshift room occupied by Lieutenant Masters. She was incoherent and strapped down to the bed. One of the nurses hurried in, scanned her, gave her an injection. The nurse shook her head at the captain and rushed out again.

Kirk went to her side, looking for a sign of recognition in her eyes. Foaming drool and convulsions were all he saw until the injection seemed to lift her. He took her hand as she finally made eye contact and seemed lucid again. "Just rest, Charlene."

"Captain. Am I dying?"

Kirk knew there was no reason to lie. "We're not sure."

"I'm sorry to have caused any trouble."

Kirk looked at her intensely. "Dammit Charlene. Lieutenant. You know better than that. The only trouble is that you've got to stay optimistic. I have every reason to believe we'll have an antidote for this." He switched to a stentorian tone now, firm and professional. "Now your orders are to rest. I need you back in peak condition if we're going to make it out of this, is that understood?"

"Aye captain."

Almost as soon as he left the scene, his communicator was going off. "Captain we need you here at once."

 **Act 4 Scene 4**

"You've been given an ultimatum. I'm sorry, but I don't have the political will to resist this any more."

Kirk looked at the man on the screen, trying to figure out, as always where he stood with him, and how valuable that was. "I am only an executive, and while I am technically in charge of one of the greatest countries on our planet, I am still a servant of the republic. A temporary servant."

Kirk replied. "Come to it, what are you trying to say."

"As part of the deal, our government has signed onto a planetary protection treaty. Any aliens which threaten biological contamination can be met with the ultimate force. I'm sorry captain but they plan to launch a nuclear missile at your quarantine zone unless you leave – after you leave too, in fact. Your bacteria are the aliens we fear Captain Kirk, not you."

"I see. Unfortunately, we have a symbiotic relationship with our bacteria administrator Laren."

The administrator looked at him with a kind of universal sadness. "It appears the solar maximum is at an end. I've convinced them to wait, and give you a chance to evacuate, _peacefully."_

"My ship is adrift in orbit, and the radiation levels still too high…"

"Captain I'm sorry. I negotiated for as long as I could. The nuclear launch has been authorized and a 50 kiloton warhead will be on it's way in 4 hours."

Everyone present was stunned and silent. "Unfortunately, part of the treaty stipulated that once the ultimatum was delivered, our communication would cease. Farewell, and goodluck."

"Uhuru, have you gotten through to the Enterprise yet?"

"Nothing yet captain."

"Keep trying. If you get through at all let him know what has happened."

 **Act 4 scene 5**

With less than 4 hours until the nuclear launch, Kirk directs the crew to ready for transport, trying to busy those that aren't sick with a task, hoping it doesn't become a futile effort.

The time draws close, and as Kirk begins to sweat and cough, Spock approaches, "Ah, captain. You'll wish to accompany me to sick bay. Lieutenant Masters is responding to the immunoglobulin therapy."

"What does it matter, anyway?" Kirk realized he was louder than he meant to be, apoplectic. "We might as well _die_ here in a nuclear fireball."

"Captain, it would appear you are foaming at the mouth. I believe your infection is becoming more serious." Several of the crew were drawn to the commotion.

"Don't you see it doesn't matter, Spock? None of it matters!" He gestured wildly around to the doomed crew around him. "It won't be long now. Just as we're saved from this disease, it is the very _fear_ of disease that's killed us."

Several crewmembers gathered around him, one of them he recognized as Hadley. "Captain. Come with us. It will be alright." Their expressions were blank and unfeeling and he unloaded every frustration and ounce of anger left in his heart, weeping; his crew lovingly helping him to the makeshift hospital, ignoring his cries and lifting him onto a gurney for treatment as convulsions overtook him.

Mccoy approached his side and said "Ah, the captain. When you come around you'll be happy to hear that Lt Master's is recovering, soon you will be too." With that, he administered the injection.

 **Act 5 Scene 1**

"Captain's log: Doctor Mccoy has been able to synthesize an antibody serum using Spock's immune resistance to this alien illness. In just a few hours I've started to recover enough to feel somewhat… normal, again. I fear it won't matter. In minutes the missiles will be released, and we are marooned here, with no communication, no expectation that Enterprise will come for us."

"It's time Kep'tin," Chekov said to him as he slowly drew near the command center near.

Uhura spoke up "incoming message… from administrator Laren."

"Onscreen…Administrator? I didn't expect to hear from you again."

"I wanted to see if there was any hope you'd left. Some in my government, including me, see this as a horror."

"Well don't feel like you can wash the guilt from your hands so easily. You could yet do something to stop this, couldn't you?" The man looked weary, and covered his face.

"Goodbye Captain. I'm sorry."

The transmission ended, and the senior staff in earshot stopped, looking up at the clear sky for a sign of an incoming missile.

"Any word from Enterprise?" Asked Kirk of nobody in particular.

"Nothing, Captain," replied Uhura.

Chekov, quietly: "Any minute now."

Kirk opened his communicator and said "attention all hands of the USS Enterprise." He heard his own voice echoing across communicators pulled out across the crew, still a thousand strong – still without a single casualty.

Suddenly a brilliant light drew their attention – bright as the sun of Sigma Draconis, but bright for only few brief seconds. The crew watched in amazement as the light faded – the detonation deep enough in space that it wouldn't hurt them.

"What happened?" Asked Uhura.

Spock now stood with them and casually remarked "it would appear our shipmates have transported the incoming missile into deep space. Our technological advantage is clear. I suspect we'll be hearing from Mr Scott soon." It was a plain statement. Quiet. Precise.

Kirk just looked at him.

 **Act 5 Scene 2**

The bridge crew is accompanied by Engineer Montgomery Scott on the turbolift to the bridge. The storm has passed, and the entire crew escaped to the Enterprise, unharmed. A few are still recovering in sick bay now, including Lt Masters. The engineers, including "Scotty" are still in protective suits, sweat covering their brows as they were getting sick aboard the Enterprise while working feverishly to restore ship's system.

"Before we leave orbit we should use our phasers to sterilize the quarantine zone." Said Kirk to Chekov, "I'd like you to work with Mr Scott to ensure the right power settings and achieve the appropriate yield. They did give us shelter from the storm, the least we can do is prevent them from having to use one of those terrible weapons."

Scotty kept trying to get a word in on the captain but every inch they covered of the ship brought more instruction and orders, observations."Agreed, Captain, you'll see, we had to do some, extreme… things, especially to the bridge."

"That's alright Mr Scott. I'm eternally grateful _not_ to have been engulfed in a nuclear fireball."

"Well Captain, you see, the bridge"

"As long as the bridge is still there, Mr Scott, I'll buy you a whole bottle of St Magdalene Single Malt Whiskey."

The doors whooshed open, and Kirk stepped out in disbelief onto a completely empty deck. The conning station, science, engineering, tactical station were empty of consoles.

He turned around, speechless as everyone marveled at it. Scotty stammered: "As I was trying to tell ye,"

"Scotty!?" Kirk looked dumbfounded. "Where is the bridge?"

"Well, it's here, but sir, I had to take, well, … _some_ of the equipment and connect it directly to various ship's systems. Most of it is in main engineering."

Kirk just looked stunned. "But you left my chair here." It was a monolith in an otherwise empty room. Kirk sat in it, with a surreal feeling.

"Yes, well, we didn't really need chairs, sir. We were quite a bit busy. It's frankly a miracle we got things working in here." Kirk's mouth hung open.

"About that whiskey, sir… I was wondering, what _year_ were you thinking _?"_


End file.
